The Archbishop's Entrance

The Dreieck was a sight to behold, a black stone fortress with only three sides. Contrasted against the frosted grass and icy wind, it stood as a symbol of imperial might in the heartland of the northern orc tribes. However impressive it might've seemed on the outside, however, Callisto knew that the inside was a very different story. Overrun by refugees and running critically low on supplies, its garrison would surely surrender to the orc hordes besieging it within days. She and Elmeria were not about to let that happen, however, and they had a plan to save it. Thousands of snarling and chuntering goblinoids surrounded the castle, except on the north-eastern tip of its foundation, where the hill it rested upon was the steepest, and where Callisto would spring the trap.

She would've liked to test her ability to bend light, to perhaps become invisible upon her approach, but she knew that she would need every last drop of mana to have a hope in hell of pulling this off. So, she flew low, remaining below the line of sight of the orc sentries, the stragglers and camp followers, until she reached her spot. Then, she got to work, conjuring a hard light barrier in the shape and texture of a gently sloping grassy plain. Whether the orcs would be thick enough to be taken in by the illusion, as the goblins and trolls likely would, was less relevant than whether she would be able to bear their weight. She finished her work and waited with bated breath and a stony grimace. Then, the melodic tones of Elmeria's voice filled the air, as she approached the besiegers.

Callisto could not see what was happening from beneath her hard light illusion but she could certainly feel it working as dozens of men began to tread upon the false ground she had conjured. When dozens became hundreds, her mind became weary and tired as she felt her mana reserves depleting. She tried to still herself, slapping her head, as if it would help, and concentrate on the task at hand. She screamed, despite herself, as the mental and physical anguish grew and what little mana reserves she would soon need threatened to drain away entirely. Then, at the very point at which she felt she could no longer continue, Elmeria's song came to a soft, tapered, end. That was the signal and Callisto did not waste even a second to vanish her construct and blink away. With her mana utterly spent and her muscles afire, Callisto crumpled to the ground but managed to turn her head to see the fruits of her labour, as at least two thirds of the besieging **** plunged to their deaths.

Each of their deaths coursed through her core and fed the beast. The Dark Lion rattled its prison cell and roared, only restrained by her power, which grew alongside his. The experience invigorated her enough to drag herself to her feet and she flew off, in this weary state, to do battle with the survivors. With her own combat prowess, Elmeria's continued barrage of light magic, and arrow fire from the castle's garrison, it was a one-sided affair and, soon enough, the Dreieck was officially relieved. As she and Elmeria set themselves to the grizzly business of executing any survivors, she idly mentioned, 'I should head to my Pure Land to recharge.'

Upon hearing that, Elmeria turned on her. 'Pure Land? Who gifted you Pure Land?' Her tone was hostile, though thinly disguised as curious.

Callisto couldn't help but smirk when she answered her, 'Ariel.'

The archbishop's eyes narrowed at that and she seemed to think about responding but, eventually, decided just to shrug, pretending she wasn't bothered.

'Right,' Callisto said, still smirking, 'I'll be going, then. Come along, if you'd like.'

The flight to her Pure Land took a while but it was peaceful. At some point, she realised that the archbishop had, indeed, decided to come along, and that made the journey all the sweeter. When she arrived, she was pleased to see that her constructs and emanations had remained and pleasantly surprised to see people making use of them, passing through one side to the other, some even making camp by the pool. She let herself briefly hope to see Mel there but it was not to be. Still, the place allowed her to unwind, as mana flooded back into her.

Callisto sighed in contentment, earning her a grunt from Elmeria.

'I don't believe Ariel gifted this to you,' she said, her tone low and dark, 'considering he told us to stay away from you.'

That cut her, though it scared her much more than it offended her. The only response she could think of was snark, 'and why haven't you?'

The archbishop bristled at that, 'I am no angel. I take orders from the Emperor, not from Ariel.'

'Ariel has given me no orders, yet an angel of his I remain. He made me, after a fashion.' It felt like tempting fate to say so, but she wanted to needle her accuser.

'Don't even try to fool me, beast,' she spat, in return, 'I can see your cat's eyes, the awkward way you hold yourself.'

She felt her cheeks redden as her mind searched for a retort, 'I have something of the lion in me. Ariel is the Lion of Heaven, after all.' The beast roared at that, in resentment and disgust.

Elmeria harrumphed and crossed her arms. 'When your mask drops, I won't hesitate to put you down.'

The line should've been scary but she only found it sexy and she struggled to think of a reply. Thankfully, they were interrupted by a commotion, as many of the soldiers who'd been passing through or lounging about had begun to run, hurrying up the path to Silverton. Word had spread amongst them, and soon came to the girls as well, that news of the Archduke's victory in Westerasen had reached the orcs in the north. It had caused their armies to fracture, and the north was now being ravaged by smaller - but more numerous - berserk warbands slaughtering and **** with increased fervour. 'Let's go,' she said, receiving a nod from her interlocutor, and she took to the air before cloaking herself in her hard light armour.

Flying alongside her, Elmeria said, 'we should split up to cover more ground, then rendezvous in Marmorstadt at sundown.' Callisto nodded and they parted ways.

Armed with full mana reserves and a finer understanding of her abilities, Callisto was able to rain down upon her enemies both figuratively and literally. She swept through villages, putting out fires and putting down orcs, most often with hard light javelins and darts. By the end, she must've slain a thousand orcs in various places and only one of them gave her any trouble. At a village with a crumbling outer wall and an undermanned militia, she faced the warband leader, Durzol. He was pure orc, with no demonic or devilish enhancements, but uncommonly strong. He stood eight feet tall and wore a full suit of blackened iron armour.

After an initial skirmish, with her sword against his mighty flail, she tried to use her magic creatively. She cloaked him in a thin layer of hard light armour, much like her own but with no opening of any kind. It took a while for him to even notice what she'd done. At a certain point, however, she saw his eyes bulge with recognition and his body heave. As suffocation overtook him, she fought cautiously and defensively. He refused to die, however, and used all of his strength to barrel into her, driving them both through part of the stone wall. She'd been caught off-guard but managed to blink away when his flail came down after he'd got to his feet. Her armour was untouched but the hard light she'd layered on top of him had shattered.

She chose not to dip too deep into her mana reserves by trying again and finished the duel in a more natural fashion, outwitting and outmanoeuvring him with her footwork and her blinks. After twenty minutes of hard fighting, after they had both begun to tire, she found an opening and drove her sword through his visor. Sundown came soon after and she flew, obligingly, to Marmorstadt. If things did not go well with Elmeria, she reasoned, then she'd at least be able to see Sarah. If she acted contrite or sympathetic, she might even get to fuck her again.

Finding the archbishop in the town square, she was astounded and aroused to see that she was entirely unblemished by whatever bloody carnage she'd spent the past few hours unleashing. 'You're here,' she said, before Callisto had even fully landed, 'good, let's get a drink. They'll serve us for free in The Filthy Wench, come along.' She then turned, without even waiting for Callisto's reply, and headed to the aforementioned tavern. Down one particularly seedy ally, they came upon the pub, with a display bearing its name and an illustration of a buxom topless serving girl. As they entered, she noticed a sign in the window that strictly barred children and informed all female patrons that they could receive free drinks as long as they showed their goods.

Callisto baulked before she could even imagine getting to see Elmeria's bare breasts. 'I'd rather not,' she said, sounding a little whinier than she'd intended to.

Elmeria rolled her eyes, 'that's not what I was referring to. They'll serve us for free because we're heroes. Well, one hero plus guest.' Mollified, she entered to the interesting sight of a seedy pub, replete with dubious looking characters, drunken old-timers and at least a dozen topless young women. The servers were all topless young women as well and one of them was providing a service of another kind to one of the patrons in a far corner. 'You're staring,' Elmeria announced, forcing Callisto to tear her eyes away from a particularly lovely young woman and managing, once again, to make her red in the face.

They then made their way to a table and a server brought them the drinks Elmeria had ordered. 'I should warn you, I won't be able to taste it.'

Taking on a friendlier tone, the archbishop simply replied, 'you will,' before taking a sip from her own flagon.

The beer, assuming it was beer, was exceptionally foamy and upon drinking it, Callisto realised that Elmeria had been right. She could taste it, and she smiled as she savoured its fruitiness. She actually managed to feel light-headed after only a few sips. 'They must use magical berries of some kind,' she said, 'since, you know, angels can taste those.' She didn't actually know whether that was true of angels and just had to hope that Elmeria didn't know either. 'If it weren't for my Angelic Protection,' she started, before getting over a stifled burp and a buzz in her head, 'I'd be worried that you'd **** me.'

Elmeria simply smiled and continued to drink.

Callisto couldn't help but giggle, announcing, 'you're pretty,' in much too loud a whisper.

'Oh, stop,' the archbishop demurred.

The angel laughed again, harshly, and the sound rattled through her own skull. 'It's true,' she said, as her speech became slurred, 'wow, this is really strong.'

'I wish we could go somewhere more private,' Elmeria said, carefully.

'We can, we could, we, uh, hold on,' Callisto grabbed onto Elmeria's shoulder, after a few failed attempts, since her vision was somewhat doubled, and pulled her through to her domain. The heavenly whites and golds gave her a headache. 'This is my domain,' she announced, clumsily. 'hopefully neither of those sisters are here.'

'Sisters? What sisters?' Elmeria asked, her tone chipper and coy.

Callisto groaned as she walked through the gate, 'they're like goddesses, or something, dark goddesses. They make monsters. I'll show you one, come on.' She knew the Dark Lion would impress her or scare her. Either way, she might get to score. She likely wouldn't have been able to find the prison cell with how bad her head was throbbing but, thankfully, some of her emanations helped to lead them there. When they finally arrived, Callisto studied Elmeria's expression as best she could.

'What is it?' she asked, her voice hitching a little. The Dark Lion came into view, its tall and muscular furred form towering over the archbishop.

'It's me,' the angel laughed, 'or the bad side of me, I guess,' she faltered and clutched her forehead, 'God, my head is killing me! How can you stand that stuff?'

'My beer was fine. The nausea is just a side effect of the truth serum I put in yours.'

Callisto laughed at that. It was a strange joke but a joke all the same, 'yeah, right, my Angelic Protection keeps me safe from stuff like that.'

'Who gave you your Angelic Protection?'

'Ariel,' she buried her face in her hands and shook from side to side, 'ugh, I can't stand this.'

'So, theoretically, if it were his feather in your heart, he could decide to suspend your Angelic Protection, right?'

'I don't know,' the notion was irritating to ponder. Damn it, they were supposed to be sleeping together, 'I want to fuck you.'

'Trust me, dear, I'm well aware of that. Though, I'm much more concerned about him than you.'

Once again, she was reduced to a fit of giggles, 'yeah, he wants to **** the hell out of you.' The Dark Lion seemed to enjoy that remark.

'And he's you, right?'

By this point, she could barely even think straight, 'I need to lie down.' She sighed contentedly when Elmeria took her by the hand and led her away. An emanation showed them to her bedroom and the archbishop gently laid her on her bed. She strained to see her, hoping she'd join her. Instead, through her blurry vision, she saw a figure enter, linger briefly, then leave alongside Elmeria, before she passed out.